Cheeky! I’m just being cheeky, of course. The timing was undoubtedly much more about the end of the first half than about the Cubs series, specifically. But it’s true: following their series loss to the Cubs, the Yankees fired hitting coach Dillon Lawson.
It’s a dramatic thing, too, as the Yankees in the Brian Cashman era have never fired a coach in-season before. The MLB.com write-up suggests that the timing with the Cubs wasn’t ENTIRELY coincidental, because the decision to let Lawson go was made after the Cubs shut out the Yankees on Friday night.
So, be careful out there when you face the Cubs, I guess. They could be the last straw. Maybe the Cubs can beat up on the Cardinals coming out of the break – they play them eight times before the end of July – and force some changes there, too. (I think I’m not rooting for that, though, given how the season is playing out for the Cardinals.)
UPDATE: There’s an interesting replacement for the Yankees:
Casey was a great hitter for a number of years, but it’s impossible for me to hear his name and not immediately think of this: